We tend to underestimate the power of a smile. We have our neutral facial expression most of the time and perhaps we secretly admire people who smile often.
When you think about it, a smile for no reason from a random stranger in the street makes us happier. It puts us in a better mood, regardless of the fact that we don’t even know the reason for that person smiling at us. If that’s the effect we get from accidental smiling, what happens when our loved ones smile? We become genuinely happy.
So, why don’t we smile more often? It’s not that difficult and it takes much less effort than frowning. Yet it feels like we are more prone to feeling angry and annoyed.
The good news is that creating a habit of smiling comes by practicing and it really does have an amazing impact of the self-esteem of others, as well as our own.
How it affects others
Just like you like it when people smile at you, other people like it, too. It goes both ways. There have been a number of experiments in Australia involving how smiling affects other people and they all have one thing in common – happiness and joy.
When you compare photos before and after people have been smiled at, you’ll see the improvement of people’s mood in almost every case.
This is because a smile is basically a silent compliment. When we smile at someone, it’s never completely accidental. We do it because we like their energy or behavior or something else, but there’s always a positive vibe that is a precursor for a smile.
How it affects us
When we smile, this physical reaction causes our brain to release endorphins, also known as happy hormones. They instantly raise our self-esteem and make us feel happier and more satisfied.
That means that by smiling, we not only do others a favor, but ourselves as well. In terms of math, if smiling were a function, it would be a bijective one, which means that no smile is left without a response- smile.
They’re all paired, so there’s nothing to worry about. Smiling is basically spreading joy all around.
Aesthetics
In order for your smile to be pleasant to others, it needs to have certain qualities. This doesn’t mean any particular beauty standards, but it should be somewhat aesthetically pleasing. The two most important factors here are your teeth and your eyes. You need to have healthy teeth in order to have a nice smile.
The gist is that, by smiling, you radiate positive energy which encourages people around you to cooperate with you and to stay motivated. That is why many companies started implementing the strategy as it has a positive effect on everyone, resulting in increased productivity among employees.
Placebo
You should try and smile more, whether you feel like it or not. Studies show that smiling acts as a placebo for good mood. The trick is that it has become a conditional reflex and that, by smiling, we send our body a message that we are happy.
Since that has been that way throughout our whole life, when we smile, our brain will release endorphins and we will become happy, even if weren’t at first.
As you can see, smiling makes the world a much better place and it does it flawlessly. So, the only thing that’s left for us to do is to use the smiling strategy as often as we can and simply enjoy the benefits it will bring to our lives.
I myself have been have had to deal with having a crooked smile because I grew up poor. And not being able to afford dental coverage kept me from fixing the problem. So I have kept from smiling for so long and people do judge you when you never smile. It’s unfortunate, but now I am putting myself in position to fix the problem. You don’t realize how much of your life is effected by something like a nice smile. It can affect you on jobs, dating, and moving casually throughout society.